Page:Tom Swift and His Electric Rifle.djvu/199

Rh, Mr. and Mrs. Illingway, decently dressed, thanked Tom and the others over and over again.

"We had almost given up hope," said the lady, "when we saw them drive you back after the first attack. "Oh, it is wonderful to think how you saved us, and in an airship!" and she and her husband began their thanks over again.

A good meal was prepared by Mr. Damon, for the rescuers and rescued ones were hungry, and since they had been held prisoners the two missionaries had not been given very good food.

"Oh, it hardly seems possible that we are eating with white men again," said Mr. Illingway, as he took a second cup of coffee, "hardly possible!"

"And to see electric lights, instead of a campfire," added his wife. "What a wonderful airship you have, Tom Swift."

"Yes, it's pretty good," he admitted. "It came in useful to-night, all right."

They were now far enough from the savages, and the pygmies' fires, which had been set aglow anew when the attack began, could no longer be observed.

"We'll land at the place where we camped befor [sic]," said Tom, who had again assumed charge of the ship, "and in the morning we'll start for civilization."